March 10, 2002

– LEXINGTON, Ky. — The seventh-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team took a strong 6-1 victory over Wright State on Sunday, March 10 at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. The Cats now stand at 10-3 on the season.

The Wildcats took the early lead grabbing the doubles point with victories on the first and second courts. Evan Austin and Karim Benmansour took the first win over WSU’s Quincy Jones and Chad Derry at No. 1, extending the duos record to 11-6 for the season. On the second court, Matt Emery and Elliott Datlow defeated Joey Turner and Jim Grombecher, 8-6.

In singles action, Kentucky took victories at the first five courts to secure the win. Benmansour came back from being down a match point at No. 1 over Chad Camper to grab the win, while Austin took a dominating straight set victory on the second court. Matt Emery, Johan Grunditz and Rahim Esmail grabbed the final three victories for Kentucky in straight sets at No. 3, 4 and 5. Esmail remains undefeated in the dual-match season on a 12 game winning streak and an overall 27-7 season record.

Kentucky will be back in action on Thursday, March 14 facing Indiana returning to Southeastern Conference action on Friday, March 15 against Florida. Both matches will take place at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center on the UK campus with Thursday’s match beginning at 2 p.m. and Friday’s set to start at 7 p.m.

AGATE:SinglesNo. 1Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Chad Camper (WSU)6-7,7-5,1-0(2)No. 2Evan Austin (UK) def. Quincy Jones (WSU)6-1,6-3No. 3Matt Emery (UK) def. Chad Derry (WSU)6-0,6-2No. 4Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Kevin Juefal (WSU)6-2,6-4No. 5Johan Grunditz (UK) def. Scott Hayden (WSU)6-2,6-4No. 6Frederico Mas (WSU) def. Elliott Datlow (UK)7-5,6-2DoublesNo. 1Benmansour/Austin (UK) def. Jones/Derry (WSU)8-5No. 2Emery/Datlow (UK)def. Turner/Grombecher (WSU)8-6No. 3DEFAULTED